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Electrical work and new fuselage cradle

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fuselage cradle side view

FUSELAGE CRADLE FIRST

I wrote about taking delivery of my QB fuselage already, but had only set it on furniture dollies so far. This would not work going forward as I will need access to all sides of the fuselage to make any real progress. It was time to build a fuselage cradle to hold the full part. I was also fortunate to have my dad help me out again with building this cradle. He is exceptional with woodworking and made this an enjoyable process to get it all done. As far as the design, I borrowed heavily from many other builders images and depictions of their work, most notably Mark Ciaglia’s cradle. The final set of plans is available as a PDF on this site – RIGHT HERE. If these help anyone out – it was more than worth the effort to create. Enjoy.

fuselage cradle side view
This is the side view of the new fuselage cradle. I’m excited to have it up off the ground and at a workable height.
end view of fuselage cradle
This is the end view of the fuselage cradle. The angled edge covered in carpeting is an especially nice touch.

These two images represent the end result of some good work. There was also a good bit of trial end error with placing the various parts at varying heights, but ultimately we landed on a pretty nice design. If I can find the time, I’ll put together a full write up on how it got built. For now – just enjoy. I am.

ELECTRICAL WORK AND MORE AVIONICS

The first task on the electrical side of the day was finishing up the GAP 26 connections. I used standard quick connect plugs for the power lines coming in to the pitot/AOA tube, but the signal wire was substantially smaller. I found a methodology discussed on social media using d-sub pins to connect smaller wires. This seemed like a great option so I used it and then wrapped the connection in heat shrink tubing to seal it up.

d-sub connectors on wires
I used d-sub pins to connect the smaller signal wires for the GAP 26 and covered in heat shrink tubing.

Next up was testing the ZipTip lighting system. I want to make sure that my wire harness was built correctly and that it would work as designed before I seal up my wings. I plugged the connector into the back of the light housing and then attached the other end to a ground power source for testing. Here are the results:

Electrical connection to ZipTips
Testing out the 16 pin CPC connector wire harness I created for the ZipTip lights. Excellent fit.
Landing lights on
I plugged in the Aveo Engineering ZipTips lighting system to test out my wiring. Pretty exciting results!

The landing lights popped to life immediately – it was wonderful! It was really validating to have performed this test. I also grabbed some good data from it too.

voltage and amp readout
I tested the landing lights and they came out to exactly a 3 amp draw at 14V. Good data point.
amperage readout taxi light
The taxi lights are drawing 1.1 amps at 14V – another good data point and glad to see them working as well.

I suppose that is enough for now. I’ll be back to button up the wings soon!

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